No mind is a mind that is no longer called my mind - Will Brennen.
No matter, never mind.
No mind, never matter.
Either way, it works - Ram Dass.
Guidelines for the mind
In conscious dance, the guidelines of stay in movement and stay present are the two ways we work directly and indirectly with the faculty of our mind. There is in various teachings the concept of No Mind. Is it possible to stop the mind from thinking? It is possible to experience this, but it does not happen by trying or forcing the mind to stop thinking.
Mindfulness
In conscious dance we approach our thinking mind by applying mindfulness. Firstly we can get the mind to focus on the body, the breath, feelings and sensations being experienced in your being as we move and dance. This is one of the easiest ways to deal with the busy mind. We give it something to do. To really look at a feeling in the body.
For example, I notice a pain in the left elbow and really let my mind go into it. I feel its intensity and texture, and boundaries. I look at what the feeling is next to it, I check if there a point of more intensity, and a place of less? How does it change when I move, and how does it inform my movement. We use the mind as a tool, we sharpen the tool by constantly coming back to its natural state of relaxed curious attention.
No Mind
While the body stays in movement, new feelings and sensations arise and disappear all the time. There is always something to focus the mind on. We also allow the mind to get really subtle over time. Whenever our minds wander off into thinking about the past, future, or any other thoughts that are not related to the present experience, we simply bring in it back to the present. Focus it on the movement and feeling. This way and through grace we may find ourselves from time to time in a state of no mind.
Halting Thoughts
There are however also times in our dance when our mind drops in one of those thoughts or feelings that stop us dead in our tracks. We could be moving freely and effortlessly for some time, or be really struggling to get into movement. Suddenly we find ourselves not moving at all.
If we can become conscious and discover what the thought was that has halted our movement or is preventing us from getting going, we can work with it. It may be painful or something hard to face. Here we need to muster our compassion, love, courage and faith in the medicine that is movement.
Every thought has a dance. Each feeling has a movement. Emotion and every state of mind can lead a dance. If we could allow these thoughts to drop into the body and be felt where they land. We could let our bodies move with them. We are back online.
Now we are moving our way into the answer to the question we have dropped into embodied movement. Sometimes we will discover the answer, sometimes not, yet either way, to move is to change.
Charged thoughts
Sometimes our thoughts carry such a charge that they create pain, anxiety, fear, grief, and depression in our being. Likewise they could create overwhelming feelings of bliss or ecstasy, too much to contain.
In these instances we may need to follow our breathing as movement for a while. Until the body joins the dance. If we remain open, curious, non- judgemental and allowing, we can really help ourselves through some fierce challenges.
Simply Another Sense
We move freely for some time and allow our mind to become just another sense. The ears hear sounds, the mind hears or sees thoughts. Sounds to come and go, and respond to them in movement. As in listening and dancing to a piece of music. We can do the same with our mind and it's thoughts. Embody them! Move them. Or just leave them to move inside the mind. Like clouds in the sky as we follow another pulse and rhythm. We are approaching the state of no mind.
No Matter
No matter works similarly. We no longer moving from the experience of being of matter. The physical experience of the body and the sensations that this creates dissolve away. We start to become aware of and move from other dimensions of our being. Entering into the experience of no matter.
We now access our psychic, intuitive, spiritual, astral nature and the dance becomes something else. Here our movements become invocatory, prayerful and creative. We start to open into our mythology, archetypes, our ancestors, our nature, nature, the elements, and life's mystery.
Embodied wisdom is the result of both explorations. To experience the space of no mind or no matter, even if just for a few seconds, can be life changing!